The Balance Of The Author Blog
If youíre an author, whether trade published or self-published, you probably have an online blog. What you do with this blog can mean a fine difference between gaining (and maintaining) book readers and establishing important connections with your fellow authors.
Early in your career, you will probably be wont to mostly post about writing. Thereís nothing inherently wrong with this since, in a sense, you are running a writing blog. The trick is to not fall into the trap of turning your blog purely into a writing blog later on. Itís good to get the writing blog out of your system early on: write about your schedule, your habits, what itís like working with an editor, writerís block, whatever strikes your fancy. In the process you will probably pick up some followers who are writers themselves. This is important for building professional relationships that will help you later on.
However, if your book is nearing published, you want to start gaining some followers who will transform into book readers. Start by creating buzz for your book. Feature posts centering around your characters, your setting, your made up languages, your thoughts on your genre, talk about your favorite (related) books, and whatever you do, donít forget to interact with your commenters! No one wants to read and comment on a blog that the author always ignores.
As you near your publication date, enlist your fellow authors to help you launch your book. This can be done with a simple blog tour. A blog tour is when you and your book are featured on othersí blogs. You can do interviews, have the hosting author review your book, write a special post about your book, or whatever you and the other hosts come up with. This helps you because it familiarizes those authorsí readers with you and your work. Those readers can turn into long-term readers of your own books!
After your book is released, your blog has transformed into an official author blog. Itís time to start backing off on the writing related posts, since many of your non-writer readers arenít going to care much about that. (Some will, but overall they wonít.) In essence, your audience has changed. Youíve gone from attracting other authors sharing in your commiseration to attracting new book readers and keeping the old ones. Since the latter are the ones who give you money, you might want to pander to them!
Thatís the gist of blogging as an author, but donít forget one important point: update regularly! ìRegularlyî can mean as little as once a week, as long as youíre consistent. If readers think youíre not updating your blog anymore, they wonít come around. This can be detrimental if your blog is the main way you advertise new releases. Keep your readers coming back and be a happier author.
Following the general advice above should assist you on your road to becoming a successful author. Good luck with your future author blogging endeavors.
